Well hello there. I see you’ve survived #ChristmasCookiesWeek so far, without too much damage. Hopefully, you’ve picked up a few good tips along the way, as well as a few new recipes to up your holiday cookie swap, cookie exchange, or cookie platter game this season. What has been your favorite recipe so far? Was it the Crystallized Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies I shared for my annual food blogger cookie exchange, the Cranberry Orange Cookies overloaded with white chocolate chips, the Heavenly Almond Cookies using an eggnog glaze, or perhaps the Mexican Chocolate Chip Crinkle Cookies I shared with ya’ll yesterday? I really am curious which cookie each of you liked the best and am truly proud of how wonderful this year’s recipes turned out. I also have absolutely no problem admitting that this Lemon Ginger Crinkle Cookies recipe is one of my faves.

So y’all, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say that they hate baking because it’s so precise, that it’s a science, and that they are afraid to mess things up. Not the case. Sure, there are some things in a recipe you don’t want to mess around with, but there are certainly others which really don’t amount to a hill of beans. Pretty much, when it comes to cookie add-ins, you can go hog wild. What do I mean by add-ins? Well, how about chocolate chips, dried fruit, chopped nuts, fresh fruit zest, spices, candy bits, or in this case, crystallized ginger. Now, I’m not saying go ahead and add three bags of chocolate chips to a recipe and it won’t make a difference, or to use three-cups of crystallized ginger, sometimes there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. A good dough to add-ins ration is important, however, when it comes to throwing goodies into your cookie recipe, feel free to experiment. In most cases, common sense will tell you if you’ve gone too far.

Are there some add-ins that just don’t work? Well, yeah, of course there are. You can still use certain items, but you may want to be cautious with the amount you use and the effect they will have on the end result. Marshmallows are a great example of this. A few marshmallows thrown into a cookie will work out for y’all, but if you add too many, watch out, things could get messy, not to mention runny and spread out all over your cookie tray. Dehydrated fruit can also be a problem, due to the fact that it can absorb too much liquid, leaving you with a very dry cookie. So, as you can see, you may need to use a little bit of caution when adding ingredients into a recipe, but in most cases, I think things will work out well for ya’ll in the end. So, don’t be afraid to throw in a few extras. Go crazy. What’s the worse that could happen? I think we’ll all survive a few too many chopped nuts combined with way too many chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/4 Teaspoon Lemon Extract

Zest of 1 Lemon

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/8 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/3 Cup Crystallized Ginger, Finely Chopped

Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and granulated sugar together for 3 minutes on medium speed.

Add the egg, extracts, zest, and juice; mix for 1 minute.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, ground ginger, baking powder, and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a silicone spatula until just combined.

Fold the chopped ginger into the cookie dough.

Use a cookie scoop to measure out even amounts of dough, roll them into a ball with the palms of your hands, and then roll them in a small bowl of powdered sugar.

Place each sugar-coated cookie onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and then bake the cookies for 10 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.

Suggestions:

These cookies will not spread a lot, so you can easily fit at least 12 on a baking sheet.

While the cookies are cooling, dust them with a little bit of extra powdered sugar to create a snow effect.

Don’t let this recipe slip away. How often do you find a recipe intriguing, yet forget where to find it when you finally get the hankering to make it? Instead of digging through old posts or wandering aimlessly around on the internet, why not Pin this recipe to Pinterest where you can find it when you eventually need it? Simply Pin the image above and you’ll have it when that time comes. You can follow us HERE on Pinterest or simply click HERE to find all of our pin-worthy recipes.

#ChristmasCookiesWeek

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